I won't add to the barrage of articles, posts and more reviewing 2009 that list the the top stories of the year. But I did want to touch on 2009, from our perspective, as a supplier of a disk defragmentation tool that has evolved and continues to evolve with the times.
2009 brought the reality of a deep recession and tough times for many technology companies; there was Windows 7, Chrome, Bing, more mobile action. But 2 big areas that also stood out, and which helped us grow this year, was the increased movement towards virtualization and big growth on the storage front. Virtualization has been taking hold for awhile now of course, but the tough economic environment has accelerated its growth. For many companies, the potential savings realized from virtualization are too hard to ignore. And that's why our vSphere defrag and Hyper-V defrag solutions are resonating with users. Virtualization defrag with virtual awareness such as that provided by PerfectDisk allows organizations to maximize their investments in virtualization and help realize its benefits. Without proper management and resource control, virtualization efforts can fall short.
Storage was another big segment in 2009, with people and companies buying increased amounts of storage and different types of storage, including SSDs, as prices plummeted. Data requirements continue to expand, with new applications and lots of video driving demand. And cloud-based storage was another key driver.
These were the biggest factors (there were others) behind the growth of defragmentation utilities this year, even in a down economy. Individuals and companies looked for savings, and the result was an investment in infrastructure and certain types of software. Virtualization defrag and vSphere defrag to better manage the virtualization movement. Efficient hard drive defragmentation to control the storage explosion.
All wrapped up in the PerfectDisk family of defragmentation utilities.
You get what you pay for. And sometimes paying nothing is good enough, sometimes it's not. If you're looking for defrag downloads, you can find some free stuff. That might be okay for you...but maybe not.
Writing in his Naples News Technobuddy column, Bill Husted writes often about free software programs that do a great job. Indeed, he writes that "one of the things I enjoy most with this column is recommending free programs that do a great job. From an early age I’ve been a great believer in the “if it’s free, it’s for me,” school of thought."
However, Husted goes on to write that "there are programs I do buy. That’s what we’ll talk about today, those rare programs so good that I’m willing to pay for them." As for the Windows built-in defragger, Husted says "it works OK. Perfect Disk 10 is better — so much better that I am willing to pay $40 for Perfect Disk 10 Professional." And the bottom line for Husted -- "my computer runs faster because of it."
Most Windows defrag software, including the free stuff, won't defrag metadata completely. Won't defrag system files completely. Won't optimize your drives, won't do a good job of consolidating free space...won't do much more than basic defrag of files. A disk defragmentation tool can do a whole lot more, and benefit users a whole lot more.
The must-have computer programs -- read the entire article here.
Get more, do more.
In a report by editor-at-large Charles Babcock, Information Week recently reported on IBM's plans to bring the virtual machines of multiple vendors under one management umbrella called IBM VMControl. The new VMControl is due out in December, and no, it won't include any defragmenting PC or server defrag software. But, from a single management console, it addresses a new data center reality - VM sprawl (as opposed to the old physical server sprawl).
So it is with the approach we are taking with PerfectDisk as we move beyond hard drive defragmentation to the new virtual world. We've certainly learned a lot and continue to learn since we started moving in this direction. We've built up our virtualization expertise and continue to do so, both internally and through alliances and partnerships outside Raxco.
On the data center side, PerfectDisk has evolved from its initial ESX offering to more comprehensive solutions for the new vSphere 4 as well as Microsoft's Hyper-V environment. This is in addition to our disk defragmentation tool for VMware Workstation and VMware Server. Now, through the PerfectDisk 10 Enterprise Console, this more heterogeneous environment can be managed and controlled, and there will be additional capabilities added with PerfectDisk 11.
In his article, Babcock reports numbers in the 60% - 80% range for IBM customers using multiple hypervisors. The trend is clear for this still-evolving world of virtualization, and it carries over to virtualization defrag as well. The data center is moving well beyond a simple server defrag. Physical and virtual servers need to be addressed, as do guests and hosts, and all from multiple vendors. With our patent-pending Virtual Awareness technology, we're working hard to build on the foundation we've started, and move forward with our customers, as their virtualization partner.
To help manage the sprawl.
When looking to Windows defrag software for Windows 7, there are various defrag programs to choose from and decisions you need to make. Do you want to be able to do a boot time defrag in order to defrag metadata? Is free space consolidation important? Do you want to boot quicker? Are you running any disk cleanup tools? Are you going to defrag Exchange databases?
There may be many more questions and requirements. Or your list for choosing between defrag programs might be short and sweet - you want a faster computer. One criteria that many people look for is certification from Microsoft. To some, it's just a "feel good" thing. To others, it's critical. And to some, it means nothing.
To us, it's important. We know there are many people that look to certification from Microsoft. And we know that many businesses have a requirement that they will only run certified applications. So PerfectDisk is certified by Microsoft for Windows 7.
In reviewing a disk defrag program, you might ask yourself why a particular product is not certified by Microsoft. For example, one area that Microsoft focuses on is overly-intrusive installations and snap-ins to the operating system - if a disk defragmentation tool is overly intrusive, Microsoft won't cerify the product. Look, with all the positive feedback Microsoft has garnered from Windows 7, it is not about to put a stamp of approval on an application that takes away from the positive user experience people are receiving from the new OS. Microsoft also made changes to the boot process in Windows 7, and we modified PerfectDisk to address these changes.
So one can choose to tell the world that certification doesn't matter and the fact that a program just works with Windows 7 is good enough.
We choose a different path for our users -- no risk.
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